The Synergy Syndrome
by SwordSkill
Summary: LEVEL 2 up. When the crew of the Nirvana answer a planet's call for help, they are dragged into a test against the metaphysical, of the power of their will, of their trust in one another, and ultimately, of the strength of the human soul.
1. The Stowaway

** A/N:** //This fic is long overdue; it's been sitting in my hard drive far too long.// The setting is post-Vandread 2nd Stage, so for those who haven't watched the second season, please proceed with caution. Most of the spoilers aren't that blatantly revealed, but they still are spoilers nonetheless. C and C are most welcome.

**The Synergy Syndrome**  
Level 1: The Stowaway   


"Do you want me to punch your headlights a hundred lightyears away?!"

"Uchuujin-san!"

"I dare you to try, shorty! You're all talk and hot air you'll just self-combust anyway!"

"Darf-san!"

"_Mattaku_," groaned Gascogne, setting her strip of wire firmly between her teeth. She reached out and grabbed each boy's head with her hands and said pleasantly, "Boys, if you don't shut up, _I'll_ punch both of you so hard you'll hear your ancestors sing. Now move it, please! You're holding the line." She grinned at Dita, who had looked utterly helpless between the two sniping boys from Talark. "Boys will be boys. Just try not to get in the middle of the cross-fire and you'll be fine."

The tall Chief of Register watched as the threesome made their way with their food towards the cafetaria table, although not without some sort of snide remark being exchanged between the two boys accompanying the girl. Hibiki Tokai and Dita had returned from Talark with the group of men chosen to co-exist with the women of the Nirvana, and one of them had been Darf Falstaff, a young man of Hibiki's age. With the rank of an apprentice Vanguard pilot, he was noticeably taller than Hibiki and had boyish good looks, _and_ had also, it seemed, immediately set eyes and charms upon redhead Dita Liebely, which infuriated Hibiki to no end.

Gascogne grinned to herself as she crossed her arms. He was certainly giving Hibiki a run for his money. The butts and rebuttals between the two rivals were certainly loud, but at least interesting.

What made it even more interesting was seeing Hibiki trying to look as if he didn't care and utterly failing, and not to mention Dita having no idea why on Mejele both of them fought so much when they had only met. _I guess they still hadn't made their feelings clear even though we gave them enough time and space to do so,_ Gascogne reflected, remembering how Hibiki had stretched his hand for Dita. _Kids today. Always missing out opportunities._

"Gasco-san!" someone called, and Gascogne turned around, looking a little nettled by the nickname. "We've run out of mashed potatoes!"

"Get the steamed rice out then," she answered, adjusting her gloves.

"We've run out of that too!"

Gascogne rolled her eyes as she made her way towards the kitchen. Today was actually the first day that the Talark men set foot on the Nirvana, and apparently, she had forgotten the little fact that men from Talark had never eaten real food before. _I bet I know what split the men and women in the first place_, she thought wryly. _The men ate too much._

Her kitchen crew was in chaos. The men took in food like black holes, they told her, and judging from the rate the men were making the food disappear, they wouldn't have enough of the daily food allowance to last them till dinnertime, blast the appetite of men.

Ara, and she still had to do inspection on her transport ship that had brought the men in to check if everything was in order after her girls had loaded up the men's Vanguards into the Nirvana's hangars. Gascogne winced. Some extra help would be needed.

She stuck her head from the kitchen door. Jura was scrutinizing carefully all the men that had arrived, her food left unfinished on her plate. Barnette sat beside her with an amused yet weathered look on her face as she lent a ready ear to Jura's assessment of the males. Duero and Parfet were nowhere to be seen. Bart was busy explaining the structure of Mejele food to the more hesitant men, assuring them it wasn't poison. Hibiki was kicking Darf on the shins, Darf was howling with pain, and Dita was trying to placate both sides to no avail. Then she sighted Meia Gisborn standing up from the table, having just finished her lunch. Gascogne brightened.

"Meia! Oi, Meia!"

Meia turned around, eyebrows lifted questioningly towards the woman giving her a jaunty wave. "Yes, Gascogne?"

"Could you do inspection on the transport ship that came with the _otoko_ for me? We kinda have our hands full, and I have to have it checked before we have that orientation address to everyone. Just take a peek if all the Vanguards were out of the ship, or for any loose parts that might have been misplaced." 

"Sure." Meia nodded and made her way towards the cafeteria door without another word.

_Always a quiet girl,_ thought Gascogne as she went back to the kitchen. _But at least she smiles now, from time to time._

"All right, people!" she called, clapping her hands above the din of the kitchen. "Current food supply status, report!"

***

Meia raked her blue hair with her fingers as she noiselessly moved towards the main docking bay which housed the transport ship. She could see the men that she passed by give her a long glance from head to toe as if she was a specimen in a petri dish, and she could not help but feel unnerved. She had finished her lunch early to escape the staring strangers; not that she was afraid of them, but merely needing some time to get used to their rough ways.

She keyed in the password on the lock pad and the thick metal door swished open. The lights on the ceiling flickered and glowed, illuminating the bay.

The white freighter was on the far right, its rampway still down. Meia walked up the ramp and into its open port, sweeping a critical eye over the main passageway. Her specialization was piloting ships, not inspecting them, but she had also learned much of the Registerial work during her training as a pirate.

She moved her way to the cargo hold, flicking switches of the lightsources. The hold was empty, save some hover pods and some tools. No lingering Vanguard was in sight nor sound; just a peaceful calm as the ship cooled its servos. Gascogne's crew had always been efficient.

She left the place and walked back to the main hold. She was about go out of the main hatch when she heard a quivering, scraping sound somewhere in the interior of the ship, and she stopped. Then there was a sharp clank, as if something had been lifted and slid over the floor of the ship.

Meia carefully padded back to the main hold, her eyes alert and the laser ring on her finger ready. She rested her back on one of the metal walls and arched her neck. Then her eyes widened.

A panel of the floor had been removed and on its place was a brown-haired man hoisting himself up from a hidden compartment. He wore a red visor band over his eyes and was dressed in a simple, leather jerkin robe. He pulled himself and sat on the edge of the other panels, looking around.

Meia frowned. Seemed that Gascogne had not gotten rid of her old smuggler's instincts when the ship had been given to her care. Sometimes those secret passageways and compartments were more trouble than what they were worth.

She planted her left foot firmly and pivoted to her left, right arm stretched forward, the ring targeted at the man's head. "Stand up with your hands above your head," she sternly commanded.

The man gave a start and jumped to his feet, scrambling as he did so. He promptly placed his hands over his head, his back towards Meia.

"Face me," said Meia deliberately, "slowly."

The man turned around, his visor glowing.

"Take off your visor with your right hand," instructed the girl. "Place it on the floor where I can see it."

"I don't think you would like me to do that," ventured the stowaway apologetically.

Meia leveled her target on the man's forehead. "And why not?"

"Because I have no eyes."

Meia blinked. "You have no eyes?"

"Yes, that is correct." The man did not move. "My eyes were gouged out when I was younger, and the visor is used to cover my eye sockets and to send nerve impulses to my brain of heat detection."

Meia could find no insincerity in him and she did not want the privilege of seeing an empty eye socket, but she kept her ring up. "Can you see me?"

"Not your features," answered the man dutifully. "But my visor is giving me heat images of a human being beside a metal wall, with a potentially destructive item on her finger aimed conveniently at my head."

"Are you from Talark?"

"No." The man shook his tousled head. "I am from the planet Asimov."

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"My name is Isaac. I came to ask the help of the Nirvana."

***

Hibiki felt as if he was going to pop a blood vessel.

"I don't mean to brag, but I was the best pilot in my class," Darf informed Dita, smiling. "And hey, I hear you're quite a pilot too."

"_Aa...iye, betsuni_," returned Dita, coloring profusely.

Hibiki's eye was twitching as he turned aside, folded his arms, and gave a loud "Hmf," of contempt. They had all gathered in the assembly hall to listen to the Okashira and B.C's orientation briefing to the men and women of Talark and Mejele, and Darf Falstaff had the nerve to be a complete pest by following him and Dita. Well, only her, actually, of course, because Hibiki Tokai came with no one, and Dita was only following _him_, as usual, and Falstaff was following _her_, which made it all very irritating.

"Bet you've never piloted a Vandread before, Falstaff," he could not help shooting back. That should shut him up, he thought satisfactorily, stealing a glance at Dita and immediately reverting his eyes.

Darf was about to retort something when Hibiki smugly gestured him to be quiet, pointing at the monitor screen where B.C's face had appeared. A gradual hush spread over the hall.

"People of the Nirvana," his voice came out, synthetically feminized by the modificator on his throat. "We welcome those from Talark into our ship, whose home it will be for them for an indefinite period of time. As you all know, this ship and its members will serve for Mejele and Talark as the model case of the re-co-existence of men and women as both planets strive to make peace over years of war and hostility."

B.C. brushed a lock of his silver hair and tucked it behind his ear, and poor Bart felt a sudden pang near his heart.

"As examples of the goodwill hoped between the two nations, I look forward to the eventual reintegration of both sides despite the long-standing tradition that had separated us. I wish us all well."

There was a pause, and Gascogne's voice could be heard over B.C.'s shoulder, "And hey, it might help too if the women and men didn't stand _that_ far apart."

A nervous sort of laughter disseminated over the two huge blocks of men and women that stood a good thirty feet from the other.

Magno Vivan's age-laden face came on, a smile on her lips. "Men of Talark and women of Mejele," she addressed them, her warm voice cracking with age. "Although you weren't taught so, men and women were created to live with one another, even with our differences. It's the natural order of things. Our elders made a mistake, and it is the reponsibility of the next generation to rebuild what had been lost. It won't be easy and it will take some time, but as they say, someone has to do it, and it might as well be us."

"Other than acting as the model case for Mejele and Talark, both planets have also requested us to patrol the known galaxy and keep a lookout for any more Earthian forces bent on their harvesting project." Magno grew serious. "It's true that the leader of the project has been eliminated, but there still could be more ships out there doing their work. It is important to make sure that all their forces have been neutralized before we finally make a seige on Earth itself." Magno suddenly smiled. "Besides, I think we need to take the Nirvana out more often."

Hibiki grinned. The old woman never sounded as old as she really was.

"Okashira." There was suddenly a shift of movement in the monitor screen as Meia entered the bridge with a man by her side, her ring steadily on his back. "I found a stowaway on the transport ship the Talark men used to come here. He claims he is not from Talark, and that he needs our help."

"Hm?" The old woman's eyes glinted as she swiveled her chair.

All was silent as two guards proceeded to hold each of his arms and Meia took a step away. Magno glanced at the man and he stood there peacefully, his hands manacled.

"Well," said Magno, folding her arms benevolently across her chest, "this is a surprise. Would you care to introduce yourself, young man?"

"By your permission, Commander, I shall explain myself." Isaac turned his neck to face the monitor. "My name is Isaac, and I come from the planet Asimov. Years and years ago, when the Karitori project of Earth was first launched, our planet was one of its first victims, being so far-flung in the galaxy that none of the other planets would suspect what Earth was doing." He paused and said, "They took from us our eyes."

After a moment's silence, Magno spoke, "And therefore the visor."

"Yes," replied Isaac. "The visor was all we could do in reaction to this injustice committed against us, being the peaceful race we had striven to be since the time of our ancestors. We could only hope that they would not prey on us again after their first Harvest."

"And did they?"

"They never did...until more than a week ago, when one of their ships came and the nightmare was relived again. Once more, they took the eyes of our new, seeing generation, the pride of our planet, and once again our race was left in the darkness."

"More than a week ago..." Magno's brow was furrowed in thought. "That was just before the main Karitori mothership was defeated."

"As our intelligence agencies had informed us," agreed Isaac. "But a few days later, a few asteroids crashed on Asimov, luckily falling on the uninhabited parts of the planet. As we cleared out the debris, we discovered a piece of equipment among the asteroids. As far as our improvised eyes could tell and our hands could feel, it seemed to be some sort of database equipment from a ship, so we took great pains to decode it despite our handicap."

"And?" Magno lifted her eyebrows expectantly.

"And it turned to be a piece from a Karitori ship, part of a mission databank. And we found out that the Karitori was planning to attack Asimov a third time, but this time, it was not for our eyes, since they had wiped us clean for that. It was for our brains."

A general shudder ran across the hall and the bridge. Even B.C narrowed his eyes in disgust.

"And when was this 'mission' supposed to be executed?" asked Magno pensively.

"Approximately five days from today," answered the Asimov. He hesitated before continuing. "We understand that the Nirvana and its allies had defeated the Karitori leadership and its daughter ships, but we fear that there may still be Karitori ships who had not been part of the entourage that rightfully met their end. Our planet had been attacked two times already, stealing us of our right to see...and we do not want a third to steal our right to think. We know that there is only probably a slim chance of a Karitori ship coming back after its leader's demise, but we desperately want the assurance that there will not be a third plunder. It will be...too painful."

Meia looked at Isaac. It was strange. People said that the eyes were the windows to the soul, but what if the man had no eyes? How could the other discern what he was feeling? Yet she didn't need his eyes to tell her how much he cared for his planet; his voice was full of passion for his people. She looked at Magno.

The old woman was lost in thought. "One more thing, man of Asimov," she finally answered. "Why did you come here in such secrecy? Mejele and Talark are both against the Karitori; they would surely have welcomed your call for help."

"We are running out of time, if the databank proved to be true, and that the ship would come," said Isaac. "Asimov has no starships in production for we do not venture out in space very much. I was sent by the Asimov Council to ask for help as fast I could, and to avoid any notice or fuss, I came straight to the source of help: the Nirvana."

"How could a planet so far-flung hear of the Nirvana?"

Isaac's reply was short but heartfelt. "Great deeds cannot be kept secret, Commander, especially when they are most needed."

Hibiki tore his eyes from the screen to look at his hands. _Great deeds..._

Magno's hood covered her eyes, but when she looked up, they flashed with light. "B.C."

"_Hai,_ Okashira?"

"Tell Bart to set a course to Asimov."

**end of level 1**


	2. Synergism

** A/N:** Contrary to what some people thought, the Isaac in my fic bears no significance to the great science fiction writer, Isaac Asimov. ^^ I just didn't want to spend so much time picking out sci-fi-sh names for him and his planet, so I just chose what popped into my head at that moment (and hey, a Russian-sounding planet has a nice ring to it, lol).

**The Synergy Syndrome**  
Level 2: Synergism   


"_Mou..._"

Parfet's elbows rested on the desk of the engine room as she watched the ebb and glow of the blue sphere that powered the entire ship. "You really don't want to be understood, _ne_, Pexis-san?"

She took off her glasses and wiped the lenses carefully as the Pexis gave no reaction to her words. "You've been acting a little strangely though, since the Talark men came aboard. Your power output efficiency went up by thirty percent, and that's probably the highest we ever got since you first merged the Ikazuchi and the old ship."

There was a slight roll in the Nirvana as Bart dodged a blasting comet, and her glasses slipped from her hands.

"_Sonna_!" she sighed, dropping to her knees and feeling for her spectacles. "I really should just use contacts instead..."

"Here. Found them for you."

Startled from the sudden voice, Parfet stopped moving, and strangely she felt her glasses slide back on her nose and behind her ears. She blinked. There was no one else in the room except for her and the figure who stood at the door twenty feet from her.

She squinted at him. "Hey, you're the new guy, right?"

"_So. Isaac desu._"

Parfet pointed at her glasses quizzically. "Did you just...put my glasses back? Because I didn't even hear you walk by, much less hear you pick it up."

Isaac smiled. "Yes, I did it from here."

Parfet stared at him. "Do you know how weird that just sounded?"

Isaac laughed. "Here, yes, maybe, but from I come from, it's as natural as breathing."

"_Woah_!" Parfet jumped up in excitement, her hands on her mouth. "Telekinesis! So there is such a thing!"

"_Aa..._" Isaac looked a little taken aback from the girl's enthusiasm. "Some people call it that."

"_Sugoii, sugoii_!" Glasses gleaming, Parfet whipped up a notebook from nowhere and started scribbling furiously, much to Isaac's surprise. "This is a breakthrough in physics! Finally, living proof of the effects of electromagnetic radiation on living systems. This could finally verify the theory of zero-point energy!"

"Err, possibly." Isaac sounded puzzled. "Although it really isn't all that...complicated."

"Oh?" Parfet looked up in eagerness. "Could I ask you to explain to me how you did it then?"

"We do it by a matter of synergism, and your ship is quite an example of that so you shouldn't be too unfamiliar with it."

"Synergism? Oh, you mean the merging of the old ship and the Ikazuchi." Parfet made a note.

"Yes. Two separate objects combine into one, their joined power exceeding what could merely have been a simple sum if they were still separated, thus making them more powerful than what they could have ever accomplished in their isolated state." Isaac adjusted his visor. "At least that is what I have heard of the Nirvana and also of the fighters you call Vandreads."

"That's basically what happened." Parfet gestured to the Pexis. "And this is.."

"The synergic core," spoke Isaac, nodding. "Yes, I've heard of it during my journey here. That's the essence of how we Asimovs use our energy to synergize the different strengths of an individual's body to be able to create a force beyond the basic planes of space and time." A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "It's exactly the same synergic energy that created the Nirvana and the Vandreads."

Parfet shook her her head in wonder. "No wonder the Earthians wanted your brains. How did you come up with this synergic practice of yours anyway?"

"After the loss of our eyes, we spent much of our time in meditation, and because of the undisturbed state our blindness gave us, we eventually learned that we have the capability to synergize our energies into one great force."

"Couldn't you have used your force to ward off the second coming of the Karitori?"

It was Isaac's turn to shake his head. "Unfortunately, we still did not have enough energy to keep the Karitori machinery away." He turned to face the Pexis. "And that is why I am in great awe of this sphere. Its power is great."

"Yet very unstable," added Parfet. "And power is nothing without control."

"Spoken like a true engineer," said Isaac, putting his hands on his hips and turning back at Parfet. "I must be going then. I have taken much of your time." He bowed. "Thank you for giving me the privilege of being so near the Pexis."

As Isaac went out of the door, Duero passed him by, staring at him as he went. "That was the Asimov, wasn't it?" he asked Parfet when Isaac was out of earshot.

"Yep." Parfet folded her arms and snapped her notebook shut. "He's actually smarter than he looks."

***

"There! I've narrowed it down to five _otoko_!" Jura pushed the small information database onto her friend's lap. "Well?"

Barnette looked at it, perplexed. "I thought you already narrowed it down to three?"

"That was two minutes _before_," said Jura, hands clasped together. "But then I realized that if I wanted my baby to be strong, I'd at least have to have _him_ included in the list." She pointed at the face displayed on the screen.

Barnette stared at the picture with distaste. "He's got a neck as thick as our hull."

"Well then, what about him?" Jura pushed a button and another face appeared. "He's got great teeth."

"Great...teeth," echoed Barnette, biting her lip so she wouldn't laugh. She loved Jura like a sister, but there were really some times that Jura was so endearingly funny it would be next to impossible not to tease her about it. "So tell me, are you sure both sets of teeth are going to pass to the baby?"

"You don't have to be so cynical about it," wailed Jura plaintively. "Don't you approve of _any_ of the men here? You know I can't choose if you don't agree with me!"

Barnette couldn't help smiling at the otherwise fiercely independent woman. "_Maa_, let's see." She scrolled across the list of men Jura was opting to have a baby with. After a second, she looked up and said wryly, "Maybe you should just stick to Plan B."

"Duero?" Jura looked disconsolate, twirling her golden locks. "But he's so cold and so serious; I want someone alive who I can talk to anytime I want. Just like you, Barnette."

"Unfortunately, no one here is even a hair like me." Barnette observed the pictures and their identifications blankly. "They _are_ _otoko_ after all."

Jura gave a dismal sigh as she picked up the pink baby book and flipped through the pages with her hands. "Well, I guess there's no such thing as a perfect baby." She paused for a while, staring into space. Then "What do you think about the Isaac person?"

Barnette almost dropped the database. "The Asimov?" she managed to choke out after recollecting her wits.

"Why not? Why else would the Karitori want their brains if they weren't smart?" Jura placed her finger on her lip, thinking. "I've seen him float things around too, like magic. And he's a friendly guy; I think he talked to just about everyone in the ship." The she frowned. "He seems to hang around with Meia a lot though. There's competition." 

Barnette held an expression of dry disbelief on her face. "I hope you're not serious."

"You don't like him?"

"He strikes me as something weird. Like there something's not right about him." Barnette shrugged. "It's just a gut feel, I suppose, but you saw him manipulate things around. Now that's strange."

Jura pouted. "You're hard to please, Barnette. It's kind of difficult to choose an _otoko_ if you don't like all of them."

Barnette quietly put the database back on the table and stretched a hand on Jura's shoulder. "Now hear this, Jura Basil Elden," she said, a small smile on her face. "You don't really need my approval or anything. What makes you happy makes me happy. Whatever you choose, you know I'll be there to back you up a hundred percent."

Jura hugged her friend, sniffing. "Wish you were an _otoko_ instead."

"Heaven forbid," Barnette could not help saying as both of them dissolved into laughter.

***

"Okashira...Okashira!"

Magno woke up with a snurk to find B.C. shaking her by the arm. She must had fallen asleep on her chair while doing reports for the Mejele government of their progress.

Magno covered a yawn with her hand and said, "Yes, B.C.?"

"We have Rebecca on the monitor. You told her to patch in after four days of our journey to Asimov." B.C. pointed at the hologram in front of them.

"Has it been four days already?" murmured Magno sleepily to herself before looking up at Rebecca's digital display image in front of her. "Yes, Rebecca, how are things in headquarters?"

"Spiffy, of course," reported Rebecca from a sheaf of paper in her hands, the grey panels of their home base on the asteroid behind her. "Mejele and Talark's reporters finally left us alone, thank goodness. One can handle the media only by so much. The Paraiso is in good shape. Supply system is stable, tell Gascogne not to worry. And our trainees are in good condition and are doing very well." After a pause, the dark-haired officer looked up, a rather withered look crossing her face. "I can't believe you left me behind from another raid again though."

"It's not a raid, Rebecca; it's a sortie. Try to remember that," said Magno, chuckling. "Besides, we needed someone to look after headquarters just in case something happened."

"I wish something _would_ happen," said Rebecca, looking miffed. "Headquarters has never felt this dull before. Now that we aren't viewed as pirates, we practically don't have anyone chasing us, and if we tried to get a catch, we'd have the two planets after our necks even more after all that 'model case' talk."

"I admit that our pirate business is in a bit of a predicament," replied Magno, "but at least we were appointed as some sort of a separate militia of Mejele instead of something as stuffy as ambassadors or any of that kind."

"But still, the pirate's life for me." Rebecca sighed in resignation, flipping the sheaf of paper over her shoulder. "Gonna miss it bad. I'm just not too used to this 'good' image; rather dull, like I said." She frowned. "And to think I vowed I'd never have anything to do with Mejele again after they closed down our unit. Anyway," she suddenly beamed, looking at Ezra on the ship's bridge, "Karu is doing well. She makes a fine daughter."

Ezra smiled gently back. "I'm glad. Is she there?"

"Yup. 'Ere we go, little lady." Rebecca hoisted the baby girl in front of the screen, nestling her in her arms. "She misses you, like I do," and Karu waved at the screen, giggling. "In fact, she-"

"Pyoro Niiiiiiiiii!"

A white oblong shot across the bridge like a missile, missing B.C. by a hairbreadth. It flew into a stop, only mere inches of the video display.

"Oh no, not _him_," groaned Rebecca.

"Pyoro Ni!" cried Pyoro, waving his little arms at the little baby, blocking everyone's view. "Are they treating you well there? Do you get fed enough? I _knew_ I shouldn't have come with this new mission!"

"It was a windfall, if anything," shot the baby's Homme. "You wouldn't know what to do with a baby anyway!"

"Oi-oi-oi! You forget I was there during her first few days, pyoro!" Pyoro retorted in indignation. "And don't hold her like that!"

"I'm holding her just fine!" snapped Rebecca. "I have bigger arms than yours!"

"Hey, don't take it on my arms, lady!"

B.C. glanced at Magno amid the fierce verbal battle ensuing in front of them. "Well, you were certainly right about the baby bringing in new life to the crew, Okashira."

Magno laughed. "Certainly not what I had expected, but I like it nonetheless," she said as Rebecca gave a final glare at Pyoro and disconnected, leaving the little android to mutter his way out of the room. 

A blue signal lighted and gave a low beep at the bridge controls and an automatic starchart came up on the main display of the ship, an icon blinking in the middle.

"We've arrived," declared Amarone. "The planet Asimov, 12 o'clock."

"So this is Asimov," observed Magno, leaning forward on her chair. In front of them was a blue-green planet encircled by a thick band of hazy-gray substance, tilted at the same angle as the planet's equator and so wide as to have covered almost one-third of Asimov from view.

"What's that gray ring surrounding the entire planet?" asked B.C., a hand on his hip.

"An electromagnetic nebula cloud," reported Belvedere, looking at the displays in her cubicle. She sounded concerned. "The levels of electricity and magnetism our sensors are reading from it is getting higher and higher as we speak."

"It doesn't look very stable," B.C. muttered, a frown etching on his forehead. "Get me Isaac."

Minutes later, Isaac came running into the bridge, his soft moccassins making no sound on the floor. "Asimov," he said, panting, when he caught sight of the view.

"Yes," said B.C. "And what of the nebula cloud surrounding it?"

"Oh." Isaac looked unperturbed. "A highly violent nebula cloud, electromagnetic by nature."

B.C. looked at him in astonishment. "You could have told us earlier! Can we avoid it?"

Isaac paused, pondered, then he shook his head. "By this distance, I doubt it. Besides, by the radius of its magnetic field, there is no other way to go to the planet except to be drawn into the storm."

B.C. blinked.

Suddenly, red alarms at the bridge controls started ringing shrilly and once again the starchart flashed, announcing rapidly the presence of a great cloud mass of gas and dust generating a great amount of electricity and magnetism.

"Violent nebula cloud dead ahead!" cried Amarone. "Sensors indicate its electromagnetic radiation intensity exceeding the Nirvana's outer shields by thirty percent!"

"Ten seconds before contact with its magnetic field!" Celtic's fingers flew over the controls. "Twenty seconds before impact on the cloud!"

"Bart! Get us out here!" was the unanimous cry of the entire bridge as they watched the ominous cloud creep nearer.

"I'm trying!" Bart looked frantic as the ship gave a half-hearted roll away. There was a sickening shudder as the cloud and the ship locked in a cosmic tug-of-war.

"The cloud's electromagnetism is dragging us into the storm," said Ezra, looking appalled. "According to calculations, it could be strong enough to crush us when we get in!"

"Ten seconds and counting till impact!" shouted Celtic. There was another pitch, and the ship's lights flickered forebodingly, a series of small crashes on deck resounding.

"Maximum shields! Bart!" The Okashira's voice rose above the din. "Full speed ahead into the storm!"

"What?!" Bart stared through the monitor, incredulous. "That's suicide!"

There was another crash. "We can't resist the magnetism from dragging us in, but we could use its momentum to blast out of the storm!" Magno grasped the arms of her chair. "Just do it!"

"_Ryou - ryoukai!_"

The Nirvana lurched forward into the dark cloud, submerging itself into the nebula particles, and almost immediately they gyrated to the electric charges producing the magnetism, spinning. The lights shut down.

"Engine room, report!" shouted B.C., strapping on his acceleration belt.

Parfet voice appeared on the display with its eerie green light glowing in the darkness. "Directed power for lights to the propulsion engines, sorry for the inconvenience! Thrusters are still good, although they could fry any minute now! Pexis still stabilized!"

"Bart!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!"

The engines roared, making the ship turbulently yaw through the swirling mesh of gas, dust, and debris colliding with each other, flashing with electricity. Then somewhere along a roll of the ship, Gascogne's face appeared on the display. She looked calm, but the pitch of her voice was growing higher. "We need to get out of here _now_!" she urged. "Our ammunition can't handle the pressure being generated by the magnetic field! It can blow up the entire ship!"

"This is one heck of a squall we got into!" muttered Magno. "Cel! How long till we get out of here?!"

"I'm detecting a hundred more kilometers before we're completely free of the nebula and its magnetic field!" Celtic squealed as the ship drop-rolled violently.

"Hold on!" cried Bart as the thrusters gave an extra surge of power. "I can almost see a clearing!"

There was suddenly a strange explosion from the back of the ship, but after a few more seconds, the Nirvana shot across the rim of the storm victoriously, spiraling away to a safe distance from the last few particles of the nebula before slowing down into a halt in normal space, a planet below in view.

The ship was quiet save the humming protest of the burnt-out thrusters and the relieved sighs of its passengers. After B.C.'s heart slowed back to its normal rate, he leaned back on his chair and called wearily, "All systems, report."

"Ship is stabilized. The power is coming back on in all sectors, eighty-five percent counting positive. No sign of potential power failure in all decks."

"Life support stabilized, one-hundred percent. There had been no fluctuations."

"Communications on-board are working, but our connection to the outside is cut off due to the interference the storm is producing."

"Shield levels are plunging down, twenty-four percent counting negative. It will take some time to recover. Weapons system is all right, except that we've torn off a couple of ion cannons. Other than that, efficiency of the remaining cannons should be one-hundred percent."

Parfet was first on-screen. "The Pexis is still in good shape, miraculously, but our main thrusters are fried and our propulsion engines shot from the effort of escaping the storm. But the brake thrusters are still okay, so we'll just have to rely on the planet's gravity pull us in to land until we can find replacements."

"Of which we don't carry around." Gascogne's face came on, her hair in tangles. "I just replaced them a few days ago. Anyway, a lot of our ammunition are on the fritz, having almost exploded, but my crew are neutralizing them as we speak. The Dreads and Vanguards are all right, except for a couple of dents and scratches, and a hangar almost caved in, but it's holding."

"We have a couple of injuries," said Duero, Paiway looking busy behind him herding in patients, "but nothing serious so far."

Finally, Bart's face appeared beside Parfet's, looking pale and haggard with a few reddening welts on his forehead. "Please don't make me go through that again!" the helmsman begged.

"We can't, in the first place," said Magno, releasing her grip on her chair, "until we get our thrusters and engines functioning again." She arched her neck to the side where Isaac was unstrapping himself from an emergency bunk. "And this planet below us is our destination, as you have said?"

"Yes, it is." Isaac swung to face his home planet, lush green with vegetation. "Welcome to Asimov."

**end of level 2**


End file.
